Winemaker Notes
Bright ruby color with a prominent nose of vanilla, ripe cassis, black cherries and hint of bell pepper. The palate is packed with juicy red fruit, a hint of meatiness and tomato cocktail. The wine is rounded off with satisfying, grippy and refreshing finish.
Serve with all types of steak, slow-cooked venison, braised beef short ribs, rosemary lamb shanks, mature cheddar and beef stew.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Brambleberries, chocolate and hints of mushrooms on the nose of this full-bodied red. It’s ripe and juicy with medium tannins. Drink now or in the next couple of years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Kanonkop 2023 Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon Kadette, from a rainy vintage, draws on premium blocks and some estate fruit and is aged for 12 months in second-fill barrels. Fresh and expressive, it shows blackberry and blackcurrant with a light, smoky edge, remaining approachable and polished. Even at this level, Kanonkop applies the same fermentation principles used for its flagship wines, emphasizing balance, freshness and varietal clarity.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
South Africa’s most famous wine-producing district, Stellenbosch, surrounds the historic town with the same name; fine winemaking here dates back to the late 1600s. Its valleys of granite, sandstone and alluvial loam soils between the towering blue-grey mountains of Stellenbosch, Simonsberg and Helderberg have the capacity to produce beautiful wines from many varieties. The climate is warm Mediterranean, tempered by the cool Atlantic air of nearby False Bay.
Perhaps most well-known for its Pinotage and Bordeaux blends, Stellenbosch also produces noteworthy wines from Syrah, Chenin blanc, Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc. The district’s wards—Banghoek, Bottelary, Devon Valley, Jonkershoek Valley, Papegaaiberg, Polkadraai Hills and Simonsberg-Stellenbosch—all produce distinctive wines from vines with relatively low yields.